Lawyers
Alliance and volunteer attorneys assisted a community
credit union with an office lease.

Economic Development

Lawyers Alliance helps to train and place people in jobs,
increase financial literacy and economic independence, attract
lending and investment, and promote community vitality and
stability in all five boroughs.

Clients include community loan funds, low-income federal
credit unions, community development corporations, workforce
development groups, business improvement districts and community
revitalization organizations, faith-based groups, nonprofits
involved in for-profit business ventures, and other economic
development organizations.

Lawyers Alliance assists clients
such as the nonprofit Community Environmental Center
(CEC), the largest provider of weatherization
assistance in New York State, and an organization with a
particular focus on low-income and affordable housing units. CEC
is the parent company of Build It Green! NYC (BIG!NYC) and
nonprofit Solar One, and together they contribute to the
"greening" of New York City.

With assistance from multiple attorneys at Stroock & Stroock &
Lavan LLP, CEC is undertaking a thorough legal review of its
operations, including weatherization services and the
deconstruction/building materials recycling activities pursued
through the BIG!NYC program, to attempt to reasonably allocate
risk when removing salvageable materials from job sites and the
resale of such items. These risk-mitigation and corporate
structure evaluation efforts are expected to underpin the
organization's positioning for
continued expansion, and increased employment opportunities for
its energy efficiency and "green" workforce teams. In the past
three years alone, CEC has doubled its workforce, adding
approximately 75 staff. During the last three years
of weatherization, CEC has improved 15,099 units, saved
residents $5.5 million in energy costs, and prevented the
emission of 19,886 tons of carbon dioxide - the equivalent of
taking 3,537 vehicles off the road.